On April 28th the truck containing our first shipment of diapers arrived. Kristy, Kate and I, along with their husbands, were all excited to see this sight.

The delivery man unloaded two pallets of boxes onto Kate's driveway and the unloading of the boxes began. The two husbands did all the heavy lifting while Kristy observed (she happened to have been on bed rest this week) and while Kate and I wrangled all eight of the kids, keeping them out of the way.

All 25 of the boxes were placed in one of Kate's spare rooms, and boy was it a sight to see. Of course we had to take a peek at what was in these boxes. Good thing I had my camera in hand!

A few days later Kristy and I tackled the mountain of boxes and successfully sorted all the diapers into 5 categories: diapers, prefolds, covers, inserts, and wool/fleece. Lots of laughs and lots of yawns later we called it a night with maybe only 2 boxes left to sort. I think we started at around 3pm and didn't leave until well after 11:30pm. The next day we were back at it and sorted the rest of the boxes and started boxing up our April 1 applicants.

This initial sort was just the first step, we still need to sort these into sizes and according to gender. We are hoping we can get some clear plastic totes/bins donated to us to make this step a bit easier. We are hoping to get to this next step sometime this week.

And just to think we have 45 more boxes coming our way in a few days...

I knew nothing about the IRS before I became involved with The Cloth Diaper Foundation. The only thing I knew about the IRS related to tax purposes and having never been audited, I’ve never had to deal with the IRS directly. I also knew nothing about EIN numbers or non-charity divisions through the IRS. The past three weeks were a very educational experience for me and I wanted to share my roller-coaster ride of a journey.

In order for CDF to operate in the state of California without having to pay a $500 a day fine, it is essential to register our employee identification number (EIN) with the state of California as well as file the necessary paperwork which is needed for us to officially move the CDF to the Golden State. Kristy asked me to take on this task and I optimistically accepted the challenge. I could not wait to get to work! After all, how hard can this be?

I'm usually a chatterbox on the phone, but the task at hand turned out be be harder than I thought for a few reasons:

1. CHILDREN

Why is it every time I make a phone call my children have to scream bloody murder? I doubt I am the only mother who goes through this! My children could have a great day, freshly woken from naps, yet ANY time I have to make an important phone call they make their presence known. As embarrassing as it was to ask the IRS agent to please repeat what he said with a screaming four year old in the background, I kept positive. This particular agent was very nice, I believe on some level he must have sympathized.

2. THE RUN AROUND

I must have spoken with at least 10 different agents the first week. Each of them seem to have a different answer for me. Maybe I didn't make myself clear enough when I stated we were already a 501(3)c organization, but it seemed like everyone had something different to say. One agent even stated that we would need to repay the filing fee to file for a 501(3)c under another state or file with the Secretary of State of California as operating as a foreign entity.

3. ADDRESS VERIFICATION

This should have been easy; however, this was the hardest task to accomplish! In order to update the address with the IRS I was told to verify the old address. No problem! I gave them the address which was registered in Texas. I was told that it was wrong. A week later I found out from Kristy that the IRS had an incorrect address filed. The previous address was off by one digit! Instead of the agent telling me this, he told me that I had the address wrong.

So thanks to Kristy, and after two weeks of vague answers and being “pawned” off onto the next agent, our EIN number is officially registered with the CORRECT address! Of course, this was only the first step of a very long task. Although the IRS address change took as long as it did, I was able to accomplish other things for the CDF organization. I got to sew some diapers for the charity auction. I enjoyed helping out in our local outreach. I also was able reach out to others and meet some of the lovely ladies through Cloth Diaper Nation and keep them informed with CDF news. I love the many projects which I have been involved with through CDF. I am forever grateful for this opportunity to help others.

First of all, WOW! What an awesome time it was to be at the lovely Tammy's Baby Shop, host of the Manteca, CA Great Cloth Diaper Change!! There were moms from all over and so many cute babies of all ages and sizes. It definitely made this mom ache for another baby (as if I wasn't already!). Holy fluff!

The Cloth Diaper Outreach was organized so well and we had our table set up, items tucked away until the GCDC was over, as our event and purposes were separate from the GCDC. Many of our volunteers were involved in the change so the rules worked in our favor anyway. Two of our recipients even changed their babies into cloth for the first time as part of the GCDC, registering at the last minute...this was amazing and so inspiring.

When we started our outreach, most of the moms were already there and started coming up to claim their diaper kits. If you read part 1, you know there were many goodies inside each kit. Myself , Kristy, Kate B., Karrie, Hannah (cloth diapering mom who also donated wool to our bags!), Shannan, and Candace all went over the bags, one on one, with each mom. We went over the included wash instructions, explained the different types of diapers, showed them how to fold and use prefolds and snappis and just had fun chatting with these moms about their new cloth kits. All moms were given a paper (carefully put together and organized by Toni) with a list of companies we love and websites for networking with other cloth diaper mamas.

All moms were told about the Cloth Diaper Foundation, which is switching over operation, location and name, so that if they are ever in need or want to refer a friend in need, they know how to get in contact with the CDF. As stated before, the CDF will be up and running under their new management by August 2011.

This outreach was so successful that all of our bags were picked up! Two moms had informed Kristy that they couldn't make it in and she did a personal drop off of each kit so that these babies can enjoy their new fluff. I was honored to help with such a great cause in our local community and to see how happy and excited these moms were about starting sustainable diapering was so rewarding. Many of the diapers moms received were donated from other moms, passing them on to the cause to serve another baby...just like CDF. I think those are my favorite things about cloth diapering: the community, the sisterhood, the love that passes with each diaper as it goes from one baby to another. Some get ratted and die along the way because they get so well-loved they are no longer useable. But any mom who has cloth diapered knows that a ratted, holey, barely snappable/velcro-able diaper is one that was well-loved and served its purpose.

To all those who helped, thank you again! Whether you were here in flesh or spirit, donated goods or time, or just sat on the sidelines and cheered us on, thank you. All parties involved made this happen and made it successful and FUN.

To all the recipients: We truly hope you enjoy your starter stashes. We hope that they grow with you through your own separate cloth endeavors and that you and your baby enjoy cloth as much as we do! We also hope that if you find cloth just isn't working, you seek help, either from us or from the many online forums out there. And if questions are asked and answers either aren't found or it's just not working out, know that we will always take the kits back and help spread the fluffy love wherever we can.

We are all very excited to move the foundation from Texas to California and know that many of you are sad the doors are closed until August. Before the change was even discussed or thought of, Kristy was organizing a separate event locally to help local moms get their babies in to cloth diapers. This blog is part 1 of 2 for our local outreach.

Enjoy.

Today, 5 crazy cloth diapering moms got together with their numerous crazy children with ONE mission: prepare and stuff 15 cloth diaper kits for 15 moms.

Operation FLUFF was in full swing.

I'd tell you what was in each bag, but then...I'd have to kill you. No not really! But we definitely don't want to spoil the surprise for the moms receiving these bags at our local outreach on April 23rd in Manteca, CA. I can tell you that each kit contains a small stash of diapers of different styles (each picked specifically for the baby's gender and size) and a few accessories to make their transition to cloth easy and fun.

First, Kristy organized all of our products in to 3 different stations; #1: accessories, #2: Covers & Prefolds and #3: diapers. We worked in teams organizing, folding, oohing and ahhing and stuffing bags of bitty bits of fluff. It was so much fun to look at all the fabulous donations from contributors to our outreach. We had fun looking at the different patterns, prints, colors and sizes and talking about how exciting it will be to hand over these kits to babies who need them.

When Kristy had first laid all of the goodies out we were overwhelmed. Holy fluff, that was a lot of diapers! But it's amazing how fast hundreds of diapers go! We quickly got things together and moving in our assembly line. As our children rambunctiously played in Kate B.'s fabulous play space and we diligently prepped our kits, we chatted and laughed. After a quick (and delicious!) lunch break, it was back to work and before we knew it, we had 15 perfectly prepped diaper kits lined up and waiting for their new homes.

Somehow, between three 4 year olds, one 3 year old, two 2 year olds, and 4 nursing babies we accomplished exactly what we set out to, our kids had fun with *minimal* injuries and we also quite enjoyed ourselves. I know for me, it was a great day out of the house with great friends, convo and of course, fluffy goodness!

We would like to thank all the diaper companies who donated to this little cause, organized by a mommy with a dream of covering the world in cloth! It's really Kristy's ambition that has made this whole thing happen so far. Also, if not for all the friends involved, there's no way it would have gone as smoothly as it has! Each individual that has contributed has made this a success, whether you donated time or materials, thank you!

Post by Kate H.

**Disclaimer: no babies were harmed or left unsupervised during today's events. The local cloth diaper outreach is not affiliated with The Cloth Diaper Foundation and no CDF donations were a part of this project. Any diapers used were used with permission from all donors, who were fully aware of the cloth diaper outreach, it's location and the fact that it is a separate entity from the CDF. All diaper kit recipients applied to and were approved for the cloth diaper outreach. Each kit contains the same amount of new and used diapers and accessories to be fair. Kits are being given out to recipients on April 23rd, 2011 at 10am at Tammy's Baby Shoppe in Manteca, CA. Photos by Karrie Hansen Photography, used with permission.**

Right now, we are working on getting the stock from TX to CA where the new headquarters of the CDF are located. Please be patient with us as we try to catch up on emails. We are doing our best to respond to everyone and that may take some time. If you have sent us an email that you feel we missed or it has taken too long to respond, please send another email to info@clothdiaperfoundation.org and we will get back to you as soon as possible.

Remember, it takes a lot of work to make sure all of the legalities are in place and we are taking this time to make sure it's done right!